Liability For Home Nursing Falls

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If your loved one has been injured in a slip and fall injury in a nursing home, then you need to identify the liable party and help your loved one get their damages. In many cases, the nursing home ends up being liable for slip and fall injuries occurring on their premises. Here are some of the reasons a nursing home may be liable for a slip and fall accident:

Not Developing a Good Care Plan

Every resident of a nursing home should have a unique care plan crafted for them. This is necessary because each nursing home resident has specific and individual needs that may not be met by a generalized care plan. For example, a resident with osteoporosis (weak bone disease) should have a diet rich in bone-strengthening nutrients, and they should also be assisted to avoid any falls whatsoever. It is negligent of a nursing home not to craft such a good care plan. It is also negligent for a nursing home to develop such a care plan but then fail to follow it.

Hiring Unqualified Employees

The quality and safety of a nursing home is the sum of many things, and one of these things is the caliber of employees it hires and retains. Each nursing home employee should be qualified in their area of expertise and licensed, if necessary. Hiring an employee without the relevant qualifications is a clear sign of negligence, and you can use the legal theory of negligent hiring and retention to sue the nursing home, if its unqualified employees cause your loved one to slip and fall.

Understaffing the Nursing Home

There is a limit to the number of nursing home residents each nursing home staff member can take care of. Beyond a certain maximum, the more residents a nursing home staff has under their care, the lower the quality of service offered. In fact, many states have laws that specify the number of people a nursing home should have. Therefore, if your loved one fell to the floor while they were getting out of the bed unaided because there was no one to help them out of the bed, you can use understaffing to hold the nursing home liable for the fall.

Not Remedying Environmental Hazards

Environmental hazards are common causes of nursing home accidents. Things like damaged flooring, wet floors, and inadequate lighting (say on elevators or stairs) can easily cause a nursing home resident to lose their footing and fall. Nursing homes have the responsibility of avoiding these hazards and dealing with them if and when they occur.

If you still have questions, seek out a nursing home abuse attorney for more information about filing a claim.


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